A Dream to Remember
Rated G. Warriors and its characters belong to Erin Hunter. Some characters, such as Eaglestar, Firestripe and Shademark, however, belong to myself. ---- Darkness filled the sky, specked by millions of tiny orbs of white that soared across the black. The black-and-white she-cat’s ears twitched. She could hear, among all the silence, pawsteps from below the Highrock. A mottled grey tabby joined her. “Jayfeather,” she greeted. “Silverpelt is bright, tonight,” he mewed, following her gaze upwards. She grunted in agreement, hiding away a glint of amusement that he had only guessed. More pawsteps came from below, yet they stayed below. The she-cat anxiously glanced down at the newcomer, only to relax when she saw a particular silver tabby. Jayfeather seemed to have noticed. “BlizzardClan is gone from the forest, Eaglestar. And led by a fairer cat, now,” he told her. “I know. But…” she stopped, knowing she had no excuse to be afraid. The medicine cat was right, after all. Jayfeather mewed his goodbyes before hopping down from the rock and retreating back to his den. “So have you decided to stop being so overconfident yet?” Eaglestar spat out the words at her mate. “I’m not overconfident, you idiot. I knew he had… ‘powers’, or whatever your spirits like to call them; I had to find out what they were,” he replied. Eaglestar fell silent in consideration, then nodded, hopping off the Highrock and padding through the lichen into her den, signalling with her tail for him to follow. “Do you ever clean this place?” was his first words upon arriving. She just snorted. “Clean here as much as you want, Firestripe, but don’t be too noisy.” “I’m not ‘noisy’ in the first place.” “Well, you won’t shut up about cleaning,” the ThunderClan leader yawned, finding her nest and slumping down, then leaving a space for the slightly bigger tom. When he warded off the last pieces of dust, he turned around and froze, staring at the gap in the nest in which she lay. “Really?” he sighed, “What about the vigil?” “I left that to Graytalon. Come,” Eaglestar mewed, gesturing her tail to the space. He sighed again before joining her and clearly wasted no time in shutting his orange eyes. Twitching her whiskers in amusement, Eaglestar did the same. When she opened them, she felt more powerful than ever. She felt as if she could leap across the widest river, or jump above the tallest mountain, or soar across the highest skies. But that was only a feeling. She glanced around in confusion at her surroundings, then almost jumped in fear when fur brushed her pelt. When she turned her head around she found herself staring back at a pair of green eyes on a black cat, who was soon joined by a slightly smaller silver cat with orange eyes. Eaglestar blinked. “Shademark? Where are we?” “StarClan,” the foster sister replied. The leader’s eyes widened in bewilderment, and disbelief. Was she right to be paranoid? Was BlizzardClan happening all over again? “We’re not… dead, are we?” she gasped. “No, mouse-brain! I think they want us for a visit.” Eaglestar relaxed, then glanced around again. Not far off were large amounts of groups talking. We must be at camp! ''She thought excitedly. It was notably larger than ThunderClan and ShadowClan’s camp – she had never been to WindClan or RiverClan, though. Then a stampede of little bundles of fur came of different stature and size, though were still altogether small. “They’re here!” “That’s the greatest warrior, ''right?” “Yeah, I thought he’d be bigger!” “Hey, Larkkit! That’s the new leader!” “That’s my mother!” “You’re not Hollyleaf! Where’s Hollyleaf?” Kits. Amidst all the chatter, Eaglestar could hear Firestripe groaning, much to her amusement. A smaller stampede then came, and queens came to claim their kits and mew their apologies from all around, until only one kit remained, whose queen was right in front of her. Eaglestar felt a pang of sadness. “Hi,” she mewed simply. “Hi, mother,” Breezekit replied, quietly, then flicked her tail for the three to follow and padded off. Exchanging glances, they followed before being joined by another small she-cat, just smaller than Eaglestar. The blue she-cat fell in beside Firestripe and nuzzled him before padding off. “That was cute,” Shademark purred, “she’s cute. I like her.” “She was my apprentice,” the deputy growled. Shademark stayed quiet for a moment. “You know, you two are cute as well,” she started again. “What?” the kit in front of them stopped. Firestripe growled even louder. “Them,” the WindClan warrior smiled, gesturing to him and Eaglestar. “Oh! Yeah! They’re together!” “BREEZEKIT!” Eaglestar almost yowled. Shademark broke into a fit of laughter, much to both hers and Firestripe’s annoyance. Breezekit flinched, then began laughing as well. “When we wake up, I will kill you,” Firestripe hissed. “You wouldn’t!” Shademark sarcastically gasped. A large dark-grey tom approached from behind Breezekit as she moved away, then he stopped in front of the trio and bowed. “Who are you?” Shademark asked, tilting her head. “My name is Addertail. Though you have not known me in your lives, I am Eaglestar’s father. And you…” he turned his attention to Firestripe, who stared back up at him. “I heard you are the forest’s greatest warrior. Correct?” He just stared. Addertail gave a glance at Eaglestar, then back at her mate. “Are you capable of keeping that position?” he challenged. Somewhere near, a black-and-white tom – small enough to be an apprentice – approached swiftly, watching from a small distance away. Firestripe kept staring up at him. Then Addertail stepped a paw back and crouched down into a battle stance. The apprentice’s jaws fell open, and they received the same reaction from Eaglestar and Shademark. The silver tabby flicked his ear and continued staring for a moment, then lowered himself to the same position. The black-and-white apprentice took off, running past the two she-cats and, behind them, the group of past ThunderClan leaders. “Whoa, Swiftpaw!” she heard Firestar call. “Sorry!” he called back before disappearing into the crowd, only to reappear on top of a rock vantage point. “Addertail and Firestripe are going to fight!” Swiftpaw announced, then hopped off and pelted back towards them, followed by most of the cats around him. “Oh? This, I want to see,” Pinestar purred, lifting off his haunches and following the crowd. The other leaders came with him. “Sheathed or unsheathed?” Addertail asked the smaller cat. “Your choice, old cat,” Firestripe replied. “Very well. Unsheathed it is.” At the conclusion, murmurs spread throughout the StarClan cats. “He’s so small compared to Addertail! He’ll never win!” a she-cat muttered behind Eaglestar. She turned around to meet two silver cats, one bigger than the other. It was the smaller one that spoke – Silverstream. “Don’t let him catch you saying that,” Eaglestar told her, then turned her attention back to the battle. She was surprised at how many cats had gathered at such short notice, and more were still coming – Addertail must have been a very famous warrior. Yet he had died in battle… Addertail gave a threateningly loud hiss at Firestripe which brought chills to her spine, but the silver warrior seemed unaffected, looking over his features as they circled each other. Then, quick as lightning, he dashed over to his flank and leaped at his neck, but on time Addertail had already shifted to the left. Firestripe landed on his other side, then Addertail jumped, but the living warrior dodged and stayed his ground. So too did the dead warrior. All this had passed by in the blink of an eye! They were both so fast! “Not bad, old cat,” Firestripe commented. “You too, squirrel,” Addertail replied hotly, keeping low as he dashed. Firestripe tried veering to the left but Addertail had already caught onto his leg with his claw, nicking him and throwing his leg out from under him. Firestripe fell, but as Addertail tried to jump on his back he rolled right, back onto his paws and jumped towards his nape. He only barely scathed it as Addertail ducked, then reached out and almost caught him, instead hitting his leg as it passed by to unbalance him. He flipped forward mid-air then twisted and regained his balance as he landed. The StarClan warrior soared above him and Firestripe managed to rake his claws on his underbelly as he did so, but then he crashed down on the smaller warrior and pin him. Hissing, Firestripe kicked his underbelly and rolled him over, now pinning him down with surprising strength. Addertail’s head lunged forward and he caught Firestripe’s muzzle in his fangs, then threw him off and dashed towards him. The next hour was then full with striking and dodging, from then on no wounds had been inflicted. Then they were opposite of each other on the battlefield, both panting and bleeding from minor injuries. It seemed they were both on equal terms. The majority of cats had cheered for Addertail to keep going, while a minority, which included Shademark and Lightningpaw, were cheering for Firestripe. Eaglestar personally hadn’t known who she would cheer for; Firestripe was her mate, yet Addertail was her father. Breezekit, who sat beside the ThunderClan leader, seemed lost too. But the opponents padded towards each other and nodded in understanding, then they both bowed. As they did so, some of the crowd began booing, but they were silenced by glares from the two. “The battle between Addertail and Firestripe, both warriors from ThunderClan, is over. It ends in a tie,” Bluestar called from a perch somewhere above them. Most of the crowd began disbanding now, but a large group of cats remained, soon joined by Bluestar, who beckoned Eaglestar over with her tail. She pushed her way past the crowd towards the former leader, Breezekit following her closely. When she found the blue-grey she-cat, she realised that this was a group of all leaders from every clan, some even from ancient times. Bluestar glanced at the floor. Eaglestar followed her gaze and realised she was looking at Breezekit. “Run along, Breezekit. This is a meeting for leaders,” Eaglestar ordered. “But mother!” the kit whined. “You can play with Mosskit,” Bluestar told her. A pale grey-and-white she-kit warily padded up to the black-and-white she-kit. “She doesn’t bite. You two can go and play, now,” Bluestar told them. They padded off together. Then a ginger-and-white, rather large tom padded up to her. His ginger pelt was the colour of the leaves of Leaf-fall. “This is my clan’s newest leader? Welcome back to StarClan,” he greeted. “Thank you. Who are you?” Eaglestar asked. The tom smiled. “I am Thunder. I was the one to find ThunderClan.” “A-ah! I-it’s a pleasure to meet you!” she stammered, eyes widened in surprise. The silver-grey cat next to him laughed. “I’m River Ripple, or just River, founder of RiverClan.” “I assume this is a continuing thing?” Eaglestar asked, tilting her head. Thunder nodded, his whiskers twitching in amusement. A wiry, small brown she-cat appeared next. “I’m Wind.” Lastly came a black she-cat with green eyes. “Tall Shadow, or just Shadow.” Eaglestar greeted them all with a simple gesture. “Why have you brought me here?” “You saved ThunderClan from near extinction, Eaglestar. Without you, our clan would have been gone long ago. We… wanted to thank you. You and those who were raised beside you, because quite literally, if Blizzard had not died then every cat of ThunderClan blood would be here as of now,” Sunstar told her. “We thought it’d be best if we let you visit us for this night, to just enjoy yourself,” a dark-grey, wide-eyed tom told her. “Likewise, Owlstar. And…” Bramblestar chuckled, glancing over his shoulder, “is Shademark having a bit of a… moment with Hollyleaf there?” “What?” Eaglestar asked, following his gaze. The two identical cats were on their hind legs, waving around their paws in a synchronising manner. It was… a weird thing to watch, to say the least. “What in Silverpelt are they doing?” Blackstar sighed. A tom joined them, and Eaglestar recognised Shadeleaf. He watched them for a bit before getting on his own hind legs and doing the same. A mottled black she-cat with green eyes copied them, then a broad-shouldered black tom. “The she-cat’s Leopardfoot,” Bluestar sighed. “And that’s Lightningtail,” Shadow told her. This time a she-kit joined them. “Nightkit. Tigerstar’s sister,” the blue-grey leader informed. Then a small tabby she-cat. “Crowtail,” Nightstar mewed. A muscular tom. “Jumpfoot,” Shadow warned. A skinny, small tom. “Molepelt,” told Raggedstar. A tom kit. “Perchkit,” Mistystar, who had only recently joined StarClan, mewed. And lastly, a tom with a twisted paw. “Deadfoot,” meowed Tallstar. The leaders just watched the gathering of shadowy cats until Shadow broke the silence. “So, it’s the meeting of black-pelt-green-eyes, huh?” “I’m pretty sure that’s the point,” Heatherstar mewed. “You should join them,” Thunder told Shadow. She stared at him dumbly, then back at the gathering and sighed, reluctantly doing so. “I cannot tell the difference between any of them. This is so weird,” Eaglestar commented, watching as they all stood on their hind legs and waved about their paws all at the same time. After watching for a few more minutes, Firestar weaved his way to the front of the crowd of leaders. “We should probably get our black-pelt-green-eye cats back,” he suggested. Sunstar nodded in agreement, obviously having watched too much. Eaglestar had already headed her way towards the crowd. “Shademark! Shadeleaf!” she called. All the black-pelted cats joined to face her. Along with them all looking the same, the scents were all mingled – she couldn’t tell whose was whose. “Oh, really?! This isn’t fair!” “What in Silverpelt is that?” a voice from beside her called. It was Firestripe. “Some ritual for the magnificent BlackpeltgreeneyeClan, I seriously don’t know,” Eaglestar sighed, “but I can’t find Shademark or Shadeleaf amongst all these!” “And we can’t find our cats either,” groaned Blackstar in annoyance. Firestar came up. “Okay cats, seriously, let’s go,” he commanded. None of them moved. Then a frightening yowl sounded and shadow soared across the floor and landed in front of Firestar. The powerful brown tabby was crouched in a battle stance with his claws unsheathed and he was yowling threateningly. Firestar shrieked, arcing his back and unsheathing his own claws, then his fur flattened when he realised it was Bramblestar. “I thought you were Tigerstar. Please don’t do that!” the ginger leader hissed. Bramblestar spat and sheathed his claws then pushed himself back up when he realised the crowd still hadn’t moved. “That was the point! Does nothing frighten these furballs?” Bramblestar complained, then Firestripe shouldered past him and stood in front of the crowd. The leaders stared curiously at the small tom. He closed his eyes and lifted his snout, opening his muzzle. Then he sneezed. Immediately all the black cats shrieked in terror and ran, revealing an embarrassed Shademark in the middle. The leaders stared bewildered at the silver warrior. “How did you do that?” Bramblestar asked him, hardly believing his own eyes. “Well, when you’re Firestripe, everyone’s scared of you,” Shademark answered, padding towards the group. Eaglestar cuffed her around the ear playfully. “Unfortunately though, the night’s over. I’m afraid you’ll have to return to your duties,” Bluestar told them as a few other cats had joined. “Aww!” came the whine of Breezekit, “Can’t she stay a bit longer?” “No, little one, Bluestar’s right. We have to go now. We’ll see you some time in the future,” Eaglestar replied. Breezekit pouted, and the ThunderClan leader bent down to nuzzle her affectionately. To her right she saw Shadeleaf do the same to Shademark, then Lightningpaw to Firestripe. With last mews of goodbye, Eaglestar felt waves of consciousness drag her through a black abyss and back to reality. She was awake. The birdsong of newleaf rang in her ears, and the dapples of dawn sunlight danced outside. She felt Firestripe shuffle in the nest, then lift himself up and pad in front of her. Eaglestar, blinking the last scraps of sleep from her golden eyes, pushed herself from the nest and next to her mate. They exchanged glances, then Eaglestar smiled. "You have a cat to kill. Get to work," she purred. Category:G Category:Warrior cats